UNIVERSAL EDUCATION TAX CREDIT

Elected officials can fully deliver on the promise of a quality public education by ensuring that all parents have the economic means to choose their children's school from a diverse market of educational providers. 

Formidable obstacles to spreading educational freedom abound.  Wisconsin's huge educational bureaucracy wants to preserve a system without real checks and balances.  To the detriment of students and teachers alike, the ballooning ranks of administrative workers in the public system act as a drag on classroom performance by limiting resources ever reaching the classroom. Independent schools on average have fewer administrators and more teachers per student than government schools.  Producing a system where individual schools are directly accountable to parents and taxpayers surpasses the ineffectiveness of schools being held accountable to educational bureaucrats at the state and local level.

While there are many options in determining the final form of how to implement a universal education tax credit, the overall concept would remain the same.  Every parent would be entitled to a refundable income tax credit-with the amount set by the State Legislature-current expenditures in public schools exceed $10,000 per pupil.  The tax credit is refundable, which means that individuals and families who don't have any tax liability can still receive it.  This universal education tax credit would then be used by the parents at any school of their choice public or private. A feature designed  into the school funding mechanism would provide parents with an economic incentive to use their tax credit in an efficient manner. 

Through this system, funding of education could be completely removed from the property tax bill.  With the cost of a public education over $10,000 per child, and private school tuition around $4,000 per child, education tax credits are good for taxpayers, children, families and communities. 

The overwhelming majority of parents want their children to succeed and will hold schools more broadly and meaningfully accountable for that success.  A school choice program arms parents with the freedom to leave a school if they are dissatisfied, and that is the most effective accountability system of all. 

Wisconsin's education system is failing.  It's failing to provide parents with choices in education services.  In a short amount of time, even adjusting for inflation, per pupil expenditures have doubled while student achievement has stagnated or declined.  It's time to move out of the 19th century education model-characterized by government centralization and rigid political planning-into the 21st century, where decentralization, parental responsibility, and flexibility can create unprecedented opportunities for learning. 

An interesting thing happens when people have more real choice in their lives, whether it involves education or other matters.  A dynamic marketplace appears, a marketplace fueled by people acting in the exercise of their freedom and determining what is best for them.  Competition between providers in a marketplace begins to bring higher and higher quality at a more competitive overall cost.

CLEAN SWEEP CANDIDATES WILL:

DEVELOP THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES TO FULLY IMPLEMENT A UNIVERSAL EDUCATION TAX CREDIT THAT PROMOTES COMPLETE PARENTAL CHOICE OF SCHOOLS, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE.

ENCOURAGE A MORE SITE BASED MANAGEMENT MODEL IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS WHERE PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS CAN MORE EFFECTIVELY RESPOND TO THE NEEDS OF PARENTS AND STUDENTS.

WILL WORK TO REMOVE FUNDING OF K-12 EDUCATION FROM THE LOCAL PROPERTY TAX.